they've bought on to grover norquist's no new taxes. and that sort of has set the stage for a complete failure on the broader efforts to deal with taxes and spending. so to avoid this utterly upness artificial fiscal cliff crisis, all they need to do is approve something small. but it's something republicans remain reluctant to do, and will only do, if they do, at the last minute, after having then str t demonstrated to tea party supporters they did everything they could. >> i wonder if we should be surprised. do you see any short term way to fix this? what is your thoughts about the chances here? >> yeah, listen, there are fewer competitive seats. many more safe seats, largely as a result of an idealogical and geographical sorting. gerrymandering contributing it to, but it's by no means the main factor. the things that we can do in the long run, but in the short term, republicans have to feel that they have to change, they have to open their party, broaden the base if they are to avoid falling into permanent minority party status. >> t